973.7L63 

BC19a 

1926 


Carlton,  Mabel  Mason, 

Abraham   Lincoln,    Preserver  of 
His   Country.  , 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Lincoln's  early  law  training 
was  derived  from  borrowed 
books,  read  by  the  light  of  a 
pitch-knot  fire. 


Abraham  Lincoln 

Preserver  of  his  Country 


Mabel  Mason  Carlton 


Presented  with  the  Compliments  of 


Company 

of  Boston.  Massachusetts 

THE  OLD  RELIABLE  COMPANY 


L 


That  Government  of  the 
People,  by  the  People,  for 
the  People,  shall  not  per- 
ish from  the  Earth 


JL 


Copyright  1926. — John  Hancock  Mut.  Life  Ins.  Co..  Boston.  Mass. 


*l  fwirvvvu  unnnnnmni  mrir  vvvv  mi'uinimniirv»iiiiiiinnniuifuuiiu  rirr 


Abraham  Lincoln 


'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^SSpssz 


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Preserver  of  his  Country 

BORN  in  a  log  cabin,  he  ascended  to  the  White 
House;  attending  school  less  than  one  year,  he 
became  a  great  orator  and  writer;  beset  with  dis- 
appointments and  defeats,  he  rose  above  them  and 
became  one  of  the  most  revered  and  beloved  of  states- 
men in  all  history.  So  reads  the  remarkable  career  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  was  born  on  February  12,  1809,  in  a  rough  log 
cabin  on  a  small  farm  in  the  backwoods  of  Kentucky,  in 
what  is  now  Larue  County.  The  United  States  Govern- 
ment has  recently  enclosed  this  sacred  hut  in  a  great 
stone  memorial,  thus  seeking  to  preserve  the  birthplace 
of  one  of  our  greatest  Americans. 

Lincoln's  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  who  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  was  not  energetic  nor  ambitious  and 
provided  only  the  barest  kind  of  a  living  for  his  family; 
Lincoln's  mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  was  gentle  and 
religious  and  too  frail  for  the  hardships  of  rude  pioneer 
life. 

3 


In  1816,  after  having  lived  in  several  places,  the 
family  moved  to  Indiana,  working  their  way  through 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  of  forest.  During  the  first 
winter,  they  lived  in  a  three-sided  shed,  with  a  buffalo- 
skin  to  close  it.  A  year  later,  a  log  cabin  was  completed, 
but  it  had  only  the  earth  as  a  floor.  The  next  year  Mrs. 
Lincoln  died.  When  a  grown  man,  Abraham  wrote  of 
her:  "All  that  I  am  and  all  that  I  hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my 
sainted  mother." 


Education 

LINCOLN  went  to  school  "by  littles,"  as  he  said, 
for  about  nine  years;  but  all  his  schooling  together 
did  not  amount  to  one  full  year.  He  taught  himself  to 
read,  cipher,  and  write.  He  had  no  pencils  or  paper,  but 
wrote  his  lessons  and  did  his  sums  on  a  wooden  shovel 
with  a  piece  of  charcoal.  Later,  when  he  did  secure 
paper,  he  copied  his  compositions  with  a  pen  made  from  a 
wild  turkey's  quill  and  ink  from  blackberry  root. 

Although  he  had  to  work  very  hard  helping  his 
father  clear  the  forest,  plough  ground,  plant  corn,  gather 
and  shuck  it,  or  doing  odd  jobs  for  neighboring  farmers, 
he  read  every  book  he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  He  often 
walked  miles  to  borrow  a  book,  and  once  told  a  friend  that 
he  had  "read  through  every  book  that  he  had  heard  of 
within  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles." 

Lincoln  was  endowed  with  a  great  deal  of  native  wit, 
a  ready  tongue,  and  the  ability  to  tell  stories.  Because 
of  these  gifts,  he  was  always  a  popular  figure  at  house- 
raisings  and  husking-bees,  where  he  entertained  the 
country-folk  with  his  speeches  and  funny  stories.     His 


natural  gift  for  speech-making,  coupled  with  a  great  love 
of  justice,  made  him  consider  law  as  a  profession.  But, 
because  he  had  no  law  books  of  his  own  and  no  money 
with  which  to  buy  any,  he  often  walked  twelve  miles  to 
the  office  of  an  acquaintance  to  read  a  volume  on  the 
laws  of  Indiana. 

At  nineteen,  Lincoln  stood  six  feet  four  inches  in  his 
bare  feet.  His  arms  and  legs  were  unusually  long,  and  his 
hands  and  feet  huge.  His  strength  was  equal  to  that  of 
three  men ;  he  could  lift  and  carry  a  pair  of  logs  and  could 
outrun  and  outwrestle  any  man  or  boy  in  the  countryside. 


Down  the  Mississippi 

IN  1828,  when  he  was  nineteen,  Lincoln  was  given 
charge  of  a  neighbor's  flatboat  and  sent  on  an  eigh teen- 
hundred-mile  journey  down  the  Mississippi  River  to 
New  Orleans  to  market  vegetables  and  bacon  among  the 
cotton  planters. 

Two  years  later,  the  Lincoln  family,  in  wagons 
drawn  by  heavy  oxteams,  moved  to  Illinois  and  built 
another  log  cabin.  Abraham  split  wooden  rails  to  fence 
in  ten  acres  of  land,  and  hence,  years  later,  when  a  can- 
didate for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  he  was 
nicknamed  the  "rail  splitter."  The  same  winter,  he  split 
fourteen  hundred  rails  to  pay  a  woman  for  a  pair  of 
trousers  which  she  made  for  him.  The  next  spring  he 
made  a  second  trip  to  New  Orleans  on  a  flatboat,  and 
saw  for  the  first  time  negroes  chained  and  put  on  a  block 
and  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  It  is  said  that  the  sight 
made  him  sick  at  heart  and  that  he  then   and  there 


pledged  himself  to  fight  slavery  if  ever  the  opportunity 
came.  Little  did  he  dream  then  that  his  name  was  to 
go  down  in  history  as  the  great  liberator  of  these  oppressed 
people. 


War,  Politics,  and  Business 

ON  his  return,  Lincoln  settled  in  New  Salem,  Illinois, 
where  he  lived  for  several  years  and  did  odd  jobs 
about  town.  Later  he  clerked  in  Denton  Offutt's  store, 
finding  time  to  study  Kirkham's  Grammar ;  "lying  full 
length  on  the  counter  with  his  head  on  a  parcel  of  calico," 
and  to  spin  his  famous  yarns  to  the  men  and  boys  who 
gathered  at  the  village  store.  Here  he  won  the  lasting 
nickname  of  "Honest  Abe."  He  is  said  to  have  walked 
two  miles  to  correct  a  mistake  in  change  of  six  cents. 
But  within  a  year  the  store  "petered  out,"  and  Lincoln, 
now  twenty-two,  was  without  a  job. 

At  the  time  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  volunteers  from 
New  Salem  chose  Lincoln  as  their  captain,  but  the  war 
was  over  before  they  saw  active  service. 

Ambitious  to  enter  politics,  in  the  spring  of  1832 
Lincoln  announced  that  he  would  be  a  candidate  in  the 
autumn  election  for  the  State  legislature.  Although  he 
secured  very  nearly  all  of  the  votes  of  his  immediate 
neighborhood,  he  was  not  elected. 

With  a  Mr.  Berry  as  partner,  Lincoln  now  bought 
three  small  stores  in  New  Salem  and  combined  them  into 
one.  The  purchasing  was  done  on  credit,  and  early  in 
1833  the  business  "winked  out,"  as  Lincoln  said,  and  left 
the   firm   owing   $1,200.     Berry   died   soon   after,   and 


Lincoln  assumed  the  entire  debt.  He  might  have  freed 
himself  by  declaring  bankruptcy,  but  he  chose  rather  to 
pay  every  dollar  of  this  debt,  although  it  took  about 
fifteen  years  of  struggling  and  saving  to  do  so. 

Lincoln  soon  obtained  the  position  of  assistant  sur- 
veyor to  John  Calhoun,  then  surveyor  of  the  county. 
Meanwhile  he  was  appointed  local  postmaster;  and 
because  the  mails  were  small  and  infrequent,  he  '  'carried 
the  office  around  in  his  hat." 


In  the  Illinois  State  Legislature 

CAN'T  the  party  raise  any  better  material  than 
that?"  asked  a  bystander,  as  he  looked  at  Lincoln, 
who  was  about  to  make  a  speech  in  his  second  campaign 
for  State  legislator  in  1834.  After  Lincoln's  speech  the 
bystander  exclaimed  that  he  knew  more  than  all  the 
other  candidates  put  together.  This  time  Lincoln  was 
elected,  and  thereafter  he  was  elected  for  three  further 
terms. 

Lincoln  went  to  Vandalia,  then  the  State  capital,  in 
a  brand-new  suit  of  "store  clothes"  bought  with  money 
loaned  by  a  friend.  Here  he  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
who  for  years  was  to  be  his  rival  in  more  than  one  affair. 
In  1836,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  Lincoln  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  went  to  live  in  Springfield,  the  new  State 
capital.  On  a  borrowed  horse,  and  with  little  money, 
he  rode  up  to  the  store  of  an  acquaintance,  Mr.  Speed, 
and  asked  if  he  could  buy  bedding  and  have  credit  until 
Christmas,  when  he  hoped  to  be  a  success  at  law.  "If  I 
fail  in  this,"  he  said,  "I  do  not  know  that  I  can  ever  pay 


you."  Speed  offered  to  share  his  own  large  bed  with 
him  in  his  room  over  the  store.  Lincoln  carried  his 
saddle  bags  up  to  the  room,  dropped  them  on  the  floor, 
and  came  back  beaming  with  delight.  "Well,  Speed, 
I've  moved!"  he  said. 

In  the  Illinois  legislature,  Lincoln's  power  and  wisdom 
as  a  statesman  first  began  to  develop.  He  lived  close  to 
the  people,  and  believed  in  their  judgment  as  the  surest 
guide  to  right  in  public  affairs.  He  worked  hard  to  give 
the  State,  railroads,  canals,  and  banks. 

During  these  eight  years,  Lincoln  was  also  practicing 
law,  and  he  became  widely  known  and  admired  as  he 
rode  about  the  country  with  the  district  judge  from  one 
court  house  to  another.  In  1843,  he  entered  a  law  part- 
nership with  William  Herndon.  Lincoln  made  it  a  point 
to  defend  only  such  cases  as  he  believed  to  be  absolutely 
right  and  just.  Once  he  gave  up  a  case  in  the  middle  of 
a  testimony  when  he  found  that  he  was  on  the  wrong 
side.  He  had  the  habit  of  telling  stories  that  not  only 
spread  good  humor  in  the  courtroom,  but  that  made  his 
case  clear.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in 
Illinois. 

When  a  young  man,  Lincoln  had  won  the  love  of  Ann 
Rutledge.  At  her  death,  his  grief  was  so  great  his  friends 
feared  that  he  would  lose  his  mind.  Years  later,  in  1842, 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  rivals  for  the  heart  and  hand  of 
Mary  Todd,  a  handsome  young  woman  from  Kentucky. 
Lincoln  was  the  victor,  and  they  were  married  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  1842.  Four  boys  were  born  to  them,  one  of  whom, 
Robert  T.  Lincoln,  later  became  United  States  Ambas- 
sador to  Great  Britain. 


Lincoln  and  Slavery 


WHEN  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  United  States 
House  of  Representatives  to  serve  a  two-year 
term,  the  question  of  slavery  was  overshadowing  both 
national  and  state  politics. 

Here  he  declared:  "If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing 
is  wrong."  Lincoln  fought  for  a  plan  to  keep  slavery 
out  of  the  territory  from  Texas  to  Oregon.  He  declared 
that  he  voted  for  this  plan  "at  least  forty  times,"  but 
to  no  avail.  He  also  tried  to  get  a  law  passed  to  free  slaves 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  failed. 

He  was  not  reelected  to  Congress  and  so  returned  to 
his  law  practice.  He  was  greatly  in  need  of  money. 
Besides  supporting  his  own  family,  he  sent  money  to  his 
father,  his  stepmother,  and  a  step-brother,  and  after 
his  father's  death,  he  paid  off  a  mortgage  on  the  old  home. 
He  "rode  the  circuit,"  a  "gray  shawl  about  his  shoulders, 
carrying  a  carpet  bag,  fat  with  papers  and  clothing,  and 
a  faded  green  cotton  umbrella  without  a  handle,  tied  with 
a  piece  of  twine." 

In  1854  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  became  a  law.  It 
was  introduced  into  the  Senate  by  Douglas,  and  per- 
mitted the  two  new  territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
to  decide  for  themselves,  when  admitted  to  the  Union, 
whether  they  would  be  free  or  slave  States.  The  North 
realized  that  this  new  law  opened  to  slavery  the  great 
territory  of  the  northwest. 

The  Republican  Party  was  born  at  this  time,  with 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  one  of  the  founders.  At  the  first 
Republican  National  Convention  held  in  Philadelphia, 


1856,  Lincoln  was  conspicuously  mentioned  as  candidate 
for  Vice-President,  but  was  not  nominated. 

Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas  came  back  to  Illinois  and 
boldly  defended  his  Kansas-Nebraska  bill;  whereupon 
Lincoln  made  answer  in  a  three-hour  speech  which  made 
him  the  champion  in  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty. 
In  1858  the  Democrats  of  Illinois  nominated  Douglas  as 
Senator;  and  the  Republicans  declared  that:  'The 
Honorable  Abraham  Lincoln  is  our  first  and  only  choice 
for  United  States  Senator."  Cheering  throngs  packed 
the  floor  and  galleries  of  the  State  House  at  Springfield 
to  hear  Lincoln's  speech  of  acceptance.  His  words  have 
come  down  to  us,  ringing  with  truth  and  justice:  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  that 
this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave 
and  half  free." 

Lincoln  now  challenged  Douglas  to  meet  him  in  a 
series  of  debates.  Seven  debates  were  held.  People 
came  from  all  over  the  country  to  the  towns  in  Illinois 
where  the  debates  took  place.  Douglas's  arguments 
were  fluent  and  brilliant;  Lincoln's  were  straightforward 
and  simple,  reaching  the  very  hearts  of  the  people. 
Indeed,  as  Lincoln  lost  himself  in  his  subject,  his  voice 
rang  with  a  deep,  strange  beauty,  his  sad  eyes  kindled, 
and  his  tall,  gaunt  figure  acquired  a  certain  majesty. 

Douglas  argued  that  people  had  the  right  to  choose 
for  themselves  whether  or  not  they  would  have  slaves. 
Lincoln  argued  that  no  man  had  the  right  to  be  master 
of  another;  that  slavery  was  wrong  and  that  it  must  be 
abolished.  Although  Douglas  won  the  election  as  Sena- 
tor, Lincoln  was  soon  to  have  a  greater  honor, —  that 
of  becoming  President  of  the  United  States. 

10 


President  of  the  United  States 

AFTER  the  debates  with  Douglas,  Lincoln's  reputa- 
tion as  a  great  orator  spread  throughout  the  country 
and  he  was  invited  to  address  audiences  in  every  part  of 
the  United  States.  The  New  York  Tribune  said  of  his 
speech  at  Cooper   Institute  in   New  York,   February, 

1860,  "No  man  every  made  such  an  impression  in  his 
first  appeal  to  a  New  York  audience."  This  famous 
speech  was  printed  and  quoted  everywhere,  and  it 
aided  in  securing  his  election  as  President. 

As  the  presidential  election  of  1860  drew  near,  intense 
bitterness  spread  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
On  November  6,  1860,  Lincoln  was  elected  the  sixteenth 
President  of  the  United  States.  Before  the  next  February, 
seven  Southern  States  had  left  the  Union,  formed  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  and  elected  Jefferson 
Davis  as  their  President. 

In  Lincoln's  inaugural  address,  delivered  March  4, 

1861,  he  said:  "The  Union  of  these  States  (United  States) 
is  perpetual.  No  State  upon  its  own  mere  motion  can 
lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union."  Later  he  said:  "The 
country  has  placed  me  at  the  helm  of  the  ship;  I'll  try  to 
steer  her  through."  Many  were  those  who  shook  their 
heads  and  asked:  "Will  that  awkward  old  backwoods- 
man really  get  that  ship  through?" 

Considerate,  gentle,  tender,  firm  as  a  rock  when  he 
made  up  his  mind,  yet  with  a  power  to  inspire  and  hold 
his  followers,  through  years  of  suffering  and  failure, 
steady  to  their  purpose,  Abraham  Lincoln  finally  proved 
himself  the  most  popular  and  beloved  statesman  in 
America.  He  loved  the  common  people,  and  they 
trusted  him.     Often  his  Cabinet  suggested  that  he  write 

11 


his  state  papers  in  more  elegant  form,  but  he  continued 
to  write  them  in  his  own  simple  language,  saying,  "The 
people  will  understand." 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War 

VIRGINIA,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina 
joined  the  Southern  Federation.  On  April  12,  1861, 
the  Confederacy  began  the  Civil  War  by  firing  upon  the 
Union  flag  flying  over  Fort  Sumter,  South  Carolina. 

Lincoln,  who  from  the  very  first  declared  the  war  to 
be  for  the  Union,  not  against  slavery,  issued  a  call  for 
75,000  volunteers  and  made  George  B.  McClellan  chief 
commander  of  the  Northern  army.  In  July  the  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  the  first  real  fight  of  the  war,  was  a  victory 
for  the  South.  The  North  was  stunned  by  this  blow. 
For  months  and  months  General  McClellan  organized  and 
drilled  an  excellent  army,  but  made  no  move  against  the 
South.  It  remained  for  General  U.  S.  Grant  to  win  the 
first  Northern  victories.  Early  in  the  winter  of  1862 
he  captured  Ft.  Henry  and  Ft.  Donelson.  Lincoln 
finally  dismissed  McClellan  and  made  Grant  commander 
of  the  Northern  forces. 

But  the  North  was  to  meet  defeat  after  defeat,  and 
Lincoln,  whose  small  son,  Willie,  died  at  this  time,  grew 
more  and  more  tender  toward  the  suffering.  He  often 
visited  the  camps,  hospitals,  and  prisons,  talked  with 
officers  and  men  and  won  their  confidence  and  love.  It 
is  said  that  throughout  the  war  a  Bible  lay  on  his  desk, 
that  he  read  it  often,  and  many  times  spent  all  night  in 
prayer. 

12 


Freedom  for  Slaves 

ALTHOUGH  Lincoln  put  the  saving  of  the  Union 
as  the  first  great  purpose  of  the  war,  by  1862  he  knew 
that  the  abolishing  of  slavery  should  be  made  the  second 
great  purpose.  Thousands  of  slaves  were  escaping  to  the 
North,  and,  in  July,  1862,  the  Congress  passed  a  law  per- 
mitting these  escaped  slaves  to  enter  the  Northern  army, 
and  allowing  them  and  their  families  freedom.  Lincoln 
first  tried  to  have  the  slaves  freed  gradually  and  to  have 
the  Government  pay  their  owners  for  their  loss,  but  the 
South  would  not  agree  to  this  plan.  Then,  in  his  own 
quiet,  sincere  way,  without  even  consulting  his  Cabinet, 
Lincoln  framed  the  mighty  sentences  of  the  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation.  But  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for 
announcing  this  proclamation.  The  Northern  army  was 
defeated  at  Cedar  Mountain  and  in  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  and  was  now  facing  Lee,  who  had  crossed  the 
Potomac  into  Maryland.  Lincoln  told  his  Cabinet  that 
he  had  made  a  promise  to  himself  and  his  Maker,  that  if 
God  gave  the  victory  in  the  approaching  battle,  he  would 
consider  that  God  had  decided  his  questions  in  favor 
of  the  slaves.  On  September  17  the  Northerners  were 
victorious  at  Antietam.  Five  days  later,  Lincoln  issued 
the  preliminary  Emancipation  Proclamation,  making  four 
million  slaves,  "on  the  first  of  January,  1863, —  thence- 
forth and  forever  free." 

On  New  Year's  Day,  when  Lincoln  signed  the  final 
draft  of  the  Proclamation,  he  said:  "If  my  name  ever  gets 
into  history,  it  will  be  for  this  act,  and  my  whole  soul 
is  in  it." 

But  the  war  was  not  yet  over.  The  North  suffered 
terrible  defeats  at  Fredricksburg  and  Chancellorsville, 

13 


but  victory  awaited  them  at  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg. 
Lincoln  kept  a  large  map  of  the  United  States  on  his  wall 
and  carefully  followed  the  movements  of  the  armies. 
Day  and  night  he  studied  the  campaign,  pored  over  mili- 
tary books  on  strategy,  planned  movements  with  his 
generals,  and  often  directed  his  leaders.  But  his  heart 
ached  for  the  men  on  the  battlefields  and  for  their  anxious 
families  at  home.  His  face  became  thin  and  drawn,  his 
eyes  heavy  and  sunken,  and  he  remarked:  "I  feel  as 
though  I  shall  never  be  glad  again."  Once  when  a 
Union  general  urged  him  to  execute  twenty  soldiers  for 
deserters  he  answered:  "There  are  already  too  many 
weeping  widows  in  the  United  States.  For  God's  sake 
don't  ask  me  to  add  to  the  number,  for  I  won't  do  it." 

The  autumn  of  1863  brought  the  Northern  victory  at 
Chattanooga.  The  next  spring  saw  Grant  beginning  his 
attack  on  Richmond,  with  heavy  losses  at  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  and  Cold  Harbor.  Lincoln  called  upon 
the  North  for  more  men.  By  this  time  the  people  had 
learned  to  love  and  trust  Lincoln,  and  they  rallied  round 
him,  shouting:  "We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three 
hundred  thousand  strong."  Again  they  elected  him 
President. 

In  the  Congress  of  January,  1865,  Lincoln's  lifelong 
dream  and  hope  became  a  great  reality  when  an  amend- 
ment was  added  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
forever  forbidding  slavery  in  every  part  of  the  United 
States. 

In  his  second  inaugural  address,  delivered  March  4, 
1865,  Lincoln  said:  "Fondly  do  we  hope  —  fervently  do 
we  pray  —  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily 
pass  away  .  .  .  With  malice  toward  none;  with 
charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives 

14 


us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and 
his  orphan, —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all 
nations." 

But  it  was  not  until  after  Sherman  had  marched 
through  Georgia,  and  the  Northern  army,  on  April  3, 
1865,  had  entered  Richmond,  and  Lee,  on  April  9,  had 
surrendered  to  Grant  at  Appomattox  Court  House,  that 
the  war  was  over.  When  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender 
reached  the  White  House,  Lincoln  met  with  his  Cabinet, 
and  at  his  word,  silently  and  in  tears,  they  knelt  and  gave 
humble  thanks  to  God. 

The  wildest  delight  swept  the  land.  The  long  and 
terrible  war  between  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  was  over! 
The  Union  was  saved !  The  slaves  were  free !  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  hailed  as  the  great  friend  of  the  people,  the 
liberator  of  an  oppressed  race.  Lincoln  went  to  Rich- 
mond, the  recent  capital  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
He  passed  a  group  of  negroes  digging  at  a  river  landing. 
One  of  them,  an  old  man,  saw  Lincoln,  leaped  forward, 
and  cried,  exulting:  "Bress  de  Lord,  dere  is  the  great 
Messiah !  He's  cum  at  las'  to  free  his  chillum  from  dere 
bondage!  Glory  Hallelujah !"  The  old  negro  fell  on  his 
knees  and  kissed  Lincoln's  feet.  Surrounded  by  kneeling 
negroes,  Lincoln  spoke:  "Don't  kneel  to  me.  Kneel  to 
God  only,  and  thank  Him  for  liberty." 

Lincoln  had  no  hatred  for  the  South.  He  honored 
the  valor  of  the  Southern  soldiers  and  generals.  He 
called  Stonewall  Jackson  a  "brave,  honest  soldier,"  and 
once,  when  looking  at  Lee's  picture,  he  said:  "It  is  the 
face  of  a  brave  and  noble  man." 

15 


"Now  He  Belongs  to  the  Ages" 

GREAT  of  heart  and  mind,  the  kindly  Lincoln  has 
won  the  hearts  of  the  people  as  few  men  in  all  the 
world's  history  have  ever  won  them.  He  once  remarked 
that  ''God  must  love  the  common  people,  he  made  so 
many  of  them."  It  has  been  said  that  he  never  forsook 
a  friend  or  lost  an  opportunity  to  do  a  kind  deed,  be  it 
ever  so  humble  a  one.  His  last  official  act  was  one  of 
mercy:  he  signed  a  pardon  for  a  soldier  who  had  been 
sentenced  to  be  shot  for  desertion,  and,  as  he  did  so, 
Lincoln  remarked:  "I  think  the  boy  can  do  us  more  good 
above  ground  than  under  ground." 

The  evening  of  the  very  day  when  he  signed  this 
pardon,  April  14,  1865,  he  went  to  the  Ford  Theatre  with 
Mrs.  Lincoln,  to  see  the  play,  "Our  American  Cousin." 
His  box  was  draped  with  flags;  the  happy  excitement  of 
war  ended,  victory  won,  and  peace  promised,  was  every- 
where. At  twenty  minutes  after  ten  o'clock,  when  all 
eyes  were  on  the  stage,  a  pistol  shot  rang  out.  Lincoln 
fell  forward  in  his  chair,  his  assassin  leaped  to  the  stage, 
caught  his  spur  in  a  flag,  and  fell,  but  succeeded  in  getting 
to  the  stage  door  and  riding  away  on  a  horse.  Mrs. 
Lincoln  cried  out:  "He  has  murdered  the  President." 
Lincoln  was  carried  to  a  house  opposite,  where  he  lay 
silently  through  the  night  —  while  all  Washington 
watched,  praying  for  his  life  —  but  the  next  morning, 
without  regaining  consciousness,  he  died.  Stanton,  his 
great  friend,  whispered  to  those  about  the  bedside:  "Now 
he  belongs  to  the  ages." 


16 


J^he  debates  with  Douglas,  in 
1858,  brought  Lincoln's  talents 
and  ability  into  nation-wide 
prominence. 


issue  No.80.  —Copyright,  1923.  — John  Hancock  mutual  Life  Ins.  Co..  Boston,  Mass. 
Livirmode  &  Knight  Co.,  Provioenci 


^WW 


Presented  by  the 


of  Boston,  Massachusetts 


J 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 
973  7L63BC19A1926  C0D1 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  PRESERVER  OF  HIS  COUNTR 


3  0112  031785261 


